The plane! The Plane!: Exploring the New England Air Museum

We had a fun family field trip planned for the day!

I love when we can take our learning on the road.  A large part of why we homeschool is so that we can make learning fun and hands on.

A local museum was having a homeschool day and we have been eager to check it out.  




We knew we'd get to see many planes up close and interact with real life pilots!  It's a wonderful way to make history come alive. 

The New England Air Museum was having a homeschool day today and we were heading there to check it out.  It's a museum I've been wanting to take the boys to but one that we just hadn't gotten around to yet so this was the perfect  opportunity.

My husband even took the day off from work to join us and that made the boys doubly excited this morning.

Once at the museum we explored for 4 1/2 hours! 

  • The boys got to sit in planes and helicopters
  • Talk to the actual pilots who flew these planes
  • Take turns in flight simulators 
  • Participate in a building wide scavenger hunt that encouraged them  to read various signs highlighting key features of the exhibits.  
  • We watched a show on the principles of flight and each of the boys got called up to participate in different aspects of the demonstration.  
  • The boys all made a paper airplane using Styrofoam plates (I guess I should have said Styrofoam airplanes!) and had fun flying them around the hanger.  
Some of our highlights (I took 49 pictures!):

Ian loved all the model planes they had throughout the whole building

getting to sit in a cockpit and learning about all the controls

checking out the weapons! (after all, they are boys!)

getting to try landing a plane at an airport

touring a WWII bomber plane

taking a quiz on famous pilots like Amelia Earhart, the Wright Brothers,
Charles Lindbergh, etc.

Learning about space travel and how spacesuits work

Learning how hot air balloons work

There it goes!

demonstrating air pressure

Evan could really feel the air pressure when they sucked all the air
out of the garbage bag

Ian participated in another air pressure test

learning how "lift" occurs

learning about blimps

Following Earhart's path around the globe

More about blimps, dirigibles and zeppelins

"piloting" a helicopter  

More cock pit training!  

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